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Archive for March, 2009

Alain was dully dispatched at LAX at around 8:45 a.m. while Cliff and I had another 12 hours around LA, so Eunice took us shopping for a book (Flora of the Mojave Desert) of which Alain had bought the last copy at a shop a couple of days earlier. Then on to Vern’s place, where again we were impressed and surprised of how many of the plants that we struggle to keep alive in heated greenhouses in Europe were doing very well, either planted out in the garden or in pots on the large patio.

Just one small incident on our departure from LAX – my bag weighed in at 61 lbs, with an allowance of 50 lbs, so a potential extra cost of US$ 150!! Must be all those maps and a few books that I had acquired over the last 5 months. Nobody in Chile or Peru seemed to have worried, but here the check-in clerks were on the ball. It turned out that as a long haul passenger, I was allowed two free bits of hand luggage and it just so happened that right at the bottom of my hold-luggage bag, I had a spare rucksack, having left my worn out purple monster behind at Eunice’s. So right in the middle of the departure lounge, a quick repack ensued, with dirty clothes strewn around to trip up bemused onlookers. Next hurdle, I was convinced that the guy at the check in had kept my passport as well as the tags for my bag. He claimed that he had not. So once again bags were opened and searched top to bottom when as usual, it proved that I had one more pocket than I had allowed for and this was where the missing travel document turned up.

The plane was 30 minutes late leaving and I slept most of the way to New York’s JFK where we arrived at 7:30 a.m.

Today’s visit (S1399) had been on both Cliff’s and Alain’s wish list and although we had returned our rental car, Eunice kindly offered to pick us up and drive us there.

For me this was my fourth visit, so while the novelty factor was missing, knowing my way around by now, I was able to enjoy four hours of photography on my favourite subjects. I probably spent longest at the corner where the Creeping Devils (Stenocereus eruca) were densely planted. This had been my favourite spot last year, after seeing the plants in habitat in Baja. It seemed that this little corner had grown since then. Are they really creeping to extend their territory?

After a nice meal out and our last Margarita’s (probably the best of the whole trip), it was time for an early-ish night as Alain had to be at LAX at 9 a.m. for his 11 o’clock flight back to Brussels.

We really did very little today, other than starting the massive exercise of copying each other’s digital images to our respective plug-in hard drives, thus significantly increasing the already huge numbers of images that we had taken ourselves. Why? The exercise provides us with back ups of our images just in case some small disaster should befall our computers. Plus, it is the first opportunity of looking at each other’s images, as by the time that we have down loaded our own images each day there is no time to share what we saw with our fellow travellers. While we tend to take pictures of each other as well as of the plants, we never get round to taking pictures of ourselves, so it is a good opportunity to collect evidence, if it were needed, that we ‘were there’. And last but not least, as a group we see much more than as single individuals, so it is always worthwhile, if time permits, to check through each others pictures for something rare and unusual that one person saw and photographed but that had escaped the rest of us.

Eunice got the car washed and valletted and we returned our home for the last four weeks to Dollar Rent A Car in good time, where its return to the fleet went without any hitches.

We had a nice and relaxed day along the sea front, looking at Feros. Eunice had selected two spots where she and I had found them last year, the first (S1397) at Point Lomas, and the second (S1398) at La Jolla Glider port. I can’t remember the stop numbers for these locations used in 2008, so had better repeat that we found F. viridescens, in flower, both tallish solitary as well as squat and offsetting plants, casting a bit of doubt or need to clarify the differences between ssp. viridescens and ssp litoralis. Also there Agave shawii, Bergerocactus emoryi (S1397 only), Carpobrotus sp. – an invasive African Mesemb that seems to be invading many temperate zones at the expense of the endemic vegetation, Mammillaria dioica, some in flower, Opuntia sp. (boring fa.), three different species of Dudleya, of which I’m sure one was D. edulis. There were also some escaped Aloes, again African, that were conveniently being used as a feeding station for a hummingbird, close to where I was sitting.

Strange that an Old World plant (Aloes are restricted to the African continent) have become a favourite with the Hummingbird, a New World native, only found in the Americas. I’m sure somebody will tell me what pollinates Aloes in nature in their home habitat.

Apart from pressing camera shutter releases, we just lazed around and took in the sun in a light breeze, knowing what is in store in Europe in a few days time. Just topping up the reserves.

We’re spending the last 3 nights of our trip in a Best Western in Los Alamitos on the outskirts of LA. The off licence next door sells Belgian beer and Chilean wine, so we’ll be fine but may not be issuing many more Diary reports 🙂

We made a relatively early start as we had a fair distance along MEX16 to go to the border with the USA and wanted to make some stops around Coyame as there had been reports of Ariocarpus fissuratus occurring here.

We passed yesterdays stops and at km 115 decided that it was time for a leg stretch some 30 km south west of Coyame, near Santa Leticia, not found on any map that we have, but signposted along the road (S1380). We found Agave lechuguilia, Dasylirion sp. (texanum or wheeleri?), Echinocactus horizonthalonius, Echinocereus dasyacanthus – including many plants in advanced bud, E. enneacanthus, Fouquieria splendens, Mammilaria pottsii, Opuntia sp. #1, Grusonia sp. (Previously referred to as ‘a small Opuntioid that looks like a Tephrocactus, but obviously is not’) and last but not least: Ariocarpus fissuratus! This was my first Ariocarpus found in habitat, as it was for Eunice and Alain. It was Cliff who had seen them in Texas, in flower, in October 2004, who spotted the first two of a total of six plants found. Not easy when they are not in flower!

At Coyame, we decided to take the loop road to San Pedro and Chuchillo Parado before rejoining MEX16. There was a battle here between some 1500 Mexicans, Rebels led by Pancho Villa against the Federales in 1911.

At S1383, a brief stop, mainly for scenery, we found Agave lechuguilia, Dasylirion sp., Echinocereus enneacanthus, Opuntia rufida (?) The smaller number of taxa found probably reflects the fact that we were almost ‘cactussed out’ for the day, so that only the obviously plants were photographed ‘for the record’.

S1384 was an entirely scenic stop, as we had reached the mirador where the Rio Conchos squeezes itself through the Sierra Peguis creating the scenic Canyon del Peguis. Shame that the visitors here had used the place as a rubbish tip and graffiti exercise yard. Despite the distractions we found Agave lechuguilia, Dasylirion sp., Echinocereus enneacanthus, Escobaria sp. (E. tuberculosa?), Fouquieria splendens, Opuntia rufida (?) and a Yucca sp.

Having grown accustomed to the tedium and time-consuming activity called ‘border crossing’ we arrived in Ojinaga where we spent Alain’s last Peso’s on Tequila and fuelled up the car before crossing the border without any incident or cues to arrive in Presidio. The exercise had taken no more than 10 minutes (the Europeans had to be ‘processed’ again by immigration.) and yet the clocks had moved on two hours due to crossing time zones. We stayed in probably the only hotel in town, the over priced for what it was Three Palms Inn.

The change in time zones is the cause for the delay in Diaries submission.

We headed out of Chihuahua on MEX 16, the main highway to Ojinaga and the border with the USA in Presidio, Texas. No, we were not going back to the States until tomorrow, but there were some good plant locations, but no towns that could offer accommodation between here and there, so we decided to do the route near Chihuahua in some detail, so that tomorrow we could run close to the border and do some more cactus stops nearer Ojinaga, as we want to cross the border at least by 16:00 hours – we all know what fun and full of surprises such crossings can be.

Today’s first Stop (S1374) was along MEX 16, as we saw some cacti along the roadside as we drove by at 110 km p.h. (70 mph). Good spot! Checking out the area on foot, we found Agave lechuguilia, Coryphantha sp., Echinocereus dasyacanthus – including many plants in advanced bud and eventually one plant actually with a yellow flower, wide open, E. enneacanthus, Escobaria sp. (E. tuberculosa?), Fouquieria splendens, Mammilaria pottsii, Opuntia sp. #1, a small Opuntioid that looks like a Tephrocactus, but obviously is not, Sclerocactus uncinatus ssp wrightii (?) the Resurrection Plant, Selaginella lepidophylla and Yucca sp. – incredible diversity of cactus flora! (Yes, I know that there are non-cactoid plants in that list as well).

S1375 was on the track to Presa Luis L. Leon, a.k.a. El Granero, a lake created by a dam built in the Rio Conchos to create a lake, the Presa. The stop was prompted by Eunice spotting a magenta flower while driving, Thelocactus bicolor in flower – dozens of plants. We also found: Agave lechuguilia, Coryphantha sp. – different from the one found at the previous stop as well as C. runyoni, Echinocactus horizonthalonius, Echinocereus dasyacanthus – more plants in flower, but with a range of flower colours from yellow to magenta, E. enneacanthus, Fouquieria splendens, Mammilaria pottsii – in flower, Opuntia sp. #1, the small Tephrocactus like Opuntioid and Yucca sp.

It is appropriate here to mention S1378 here, a stop made on the way back from the Presa, just 300 m from S1375, but on flat terrain rather than on the rocky outcrop. We found: Agave lechuguilia, Echinocereus dasyacanthus, E. enneacanthus, Fouquieria splendens, Opuntia sp. #1 and the small Tephrocactus like Opuntioid, Thelocactus bicolor, and Yucca sp.

S1376 was near the lake, with a 30 m deep canyon leading to the lake. A few more rain storms is sure to wash sections of the road away. We stopped to take scenery shots but also found E. enneacanthus, Fouquieria splendens, Opuntia sp. #1 & #2.

S1377 was yet closer to the lake and again it was Eunice who spotted a large clump of yet another different looking Coryphantha sp. It was hot (around 31 C ( 87 F) and we did not really want to go on for another stroll in the desert, but needs must, so we also found E. dasyacantus, Echinocactus horizonthalonius, Echinocereus enneacanthus, Fouquieria splendens, M. lasiacantha (in flower), M. pottsii, Tephro-like opuntioid, Yucca sp.

From here we turned round and went back along the track & road that we came. S1378 is already covered earlier. S1379 near El Uno was for exceptionally large clumps of E. enneacanthus, in bud. I about a week’s time, this area will be awash with cactus in flower. Other cacti found were a ‘blue’ Agave sp. – planted or natural? – a different Coryphantha, with large tubercles and long spines, or was it a Thelocactus sp.? E. horizonthalonius, E. enneacanthus, and Sclerocactus uncinatus ssp wrightii.

Apologies to the non-cactophiles in the audience, but the species list of plants seen today is impressive and probably matches any habitat that we’ve seen in the last 5 months for diversity.

The area where we spent the night was flat and uninspiring. How were we going to find cacti here? To the east and to the north was Mennonite country. I was surprised to find how little I knew about these people. To learn more about this curious religious sect, take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mennonites

The area where they live is flat and featureless. All small settlements are known as a Campo and given a number. The problem was that these numbers are written as text on the map we had, and in numbers on the signs, and I never took the Spanish classes where we did numbers greater than 12. Needless to say, very cm / inch of land had been cultivated and we did not even bother to look for cacti. Pictures of Mennonite country have been filed under ‘S1369 – no cacti or other succulent plants’.

We wanted to get to the Cumbres de Majalca National Park, north of the town of Chihuahua. There is only one road in, at the south-east side and we approached from the south-west, had taken the long route north, then east, then south to get there. The route north was the Mennonite stretch already discussed. When we turned east (shown as CHIH 50 on road side signs, but as CHIH 160 on the road map) we saw some low hills and as we hit the rocks, farming stopped abruptly. A few km in (still outside the park) and we stopped to take a ‘quick look’ (S1370) that was really welcome after the cactus less morning: We found Agave parryi – massive plants as well as young seedlings, Coryphantha sp., Echinocereus polyacanthus – including two plants in flower and Mammillaria barbata (syn. M. morricalli), just three tiny plants, but one in bud and the other in flower. It seems we’ve been arriving just a bit too soon for flowering here. Going through my pictures, it seems that I travelled most of the day with the camera’s GPS switched off, so will have to retrace my steps the hard way.

S1371 was a bit farther along on CHIH 50 as the road went through large patches of Agave parryi – very impressive, and some equally impressive scenery.

We hit the main Juarez / El Paso (border with the US) to Chihuahua road, MEX 45 and after some 40 km turned west on to the road into the Park. S1372 was at km 21 and on the road into the park. Here we found more Agave parryi, but also Echinocereus pectinatus / dasyacanthus – difficult to tell when not in flower, I’ll call them all pectinatus, short for ‘pectinatus complex’ for now and will read up about them when I get home (I did translate a book on this complex from German into English, for the German Arbeitsgruppe Echinocereenfreund but my memory does not go back far enough to remember the main differences). Alain got quite excited about a Euphorbia sp. that looked at first glance like Edelweiss*. We found it in flower and in fruit. It is not really succulent, but looked cute. During this time I noticed that the GPS had been off all day. So I’m back with having accurate Stop data from this stop on again.

S1373 is for scenic shots and brief leg stretches between S1372 and our turn around point in the village of Cumbres de Majalca. Plants recorded include: Agave parryi, Coryphantha sp., and an Opuntia sp – huge pads, yellow flowers, but mainly still in bud.

Tomorrow we start looking at cacti close to Chihuahua on the way to El Paso.

*EdelweissDear Alain,
What you found is Euphorbia radians var. radians. Indeed, it looks very much like an edelweiss when in flower – but hidden underneath soil level there is a big tuber. It always surprises me that it isn’t more popular in collections.
Wouldn’t its discovery make a nice article in the Euphorbia World?
Greetings Volker Buddensiek